Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Syria and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Bronski Beat show in Brixton.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1962 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Sao Paulo and Jakarta.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Taipei kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968 at the first Can practice in a loft in Cologne.
I was working on the mellotron sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Angry Samoans to the punk kids.
I played it at the Hacienda.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Flipper. All the underground hits.
All Charles Mingus tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Ash Ra Tempel record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal disco hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a synthesizer and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Susan Cadogan record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a rhodes.
I hear that you and your band have sold your rhodes and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Fortunes,
These Immortal Souls,
Roy Ayers Ubiquity,
Scientists,
Robert Görl,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Metal Thangz,
Hardrive,
Sun City Girls,
Marvin Gaye,
The Pop Group,
X-Ray Spex,
Byron Stingily,
Joe Smooth,
Faust,
The Index,
Half Japanese,
Ponytail,
the Fania All-Stars,
Spandau Ballet,
Morten Harket,
The Happenings,
Sugar Minott,
Dual Sessions,
Scratch Acid,
The Misunderstood,
The Residents,
Louis and Bebe Barron,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Second Layer,
Country Teasers,
Soul II Soul,
Intrusion,
Selector Dub Narcotic,
Patti Smith,
Young Marble Giants,
Derrick May,
The Doors,
Glenn Branca,
Gerry Rafferty,
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band,
Schoolly D,
Magazine,
Bill Near,
The New Christs,
The Smiths,
Depeche Mode,
Marshall Jefferson,
The Toasters,
H. Thieme,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Deadbeat,
Throbbing Gristle,
Vaughan Mason & Crew,
Albert Ayler,
Supertramp,
ABBA,
Smog,
The Angels of Light,
The Motions, The Motions, The Motions, The Motions.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.